Wednesday, December 10, 2014

40 Year Itch : My Old Time Used To Be

[Purchase]

Chicago by way of Greenwood, Mississippi blues guitarist Fenton Robinson scored five stars in the 1983 edition of The Rolling Stone Album Guide for Somebody Loan Me a Dime, the title track of which Robinson originally wrote and recorded in 1967. Many people had heard Boz Scaggs's 1969 version with Duane Allman before Alligator Records, then a one man operation run by Bruce Iglauer, released what has been hailed as a blues classic.

Another Alligator Records act was Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers whose Natural Boogie earned an A - rating from Robert Christgau in 1974. This is down and dirty, rowdy and rocking blues played at high volume and high intensity. You won't hear any bass in this trio. Taylor was already 59 when this album came out. He'd never see 61, dying in December of 1974. He wrote his epitaph when he said "I'll be dead years from now and people will say 'He couldn't play worth a shit, but damn could he make it sound good!"

On his first album for RSO, Freddie King teamed up with his new label mate and #1 fan Eric Clapton on the duet "Sugar Sweet". That, and the airbrushed cover by artist Peter Palombi, are probably what Burglar is best known for. It's a bit of a surprisingly funky mixed bag, especially for those seeking pure blues. I like the deep track "My Credit Didn't Go Through" but maybe because I've recently tried to re finance my mortgage and I can relate. In 1976 King would die of heart failure. He was only 42 years old.

David Bowie : Heroes [Purchase] On September 23, 1977 David Bowie released the greatest single of the year, "Heroes"...

Remembering Charles Bradley

Soul Singer

The surly blogger in 1977

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